1. Field
The subject invention is in the fields of lighting apparatus in which there is a plurality of lights distributed along the conductors which provide power to the lights. More particularly, it is in the field of such apparatus which is battery powered and, still more particularly, detachably attachable to kites.
2. Prior Art
It is a long standing and well known practice to attach a light or lights to kites for both aesthetic and practical purposes, particularly for signaling. However, the upsurge of interest in kites and fairly recent improvements in design and technology have brought about increased interest in attaching lights to kites for aesthetic purposes. One lighting apparatus known to be made commercially available in response to that interest comprises a long narrow strip of printed circuit board, a plurality of light emitting diodes (LED's) attached to the circuit on the board, a length of two-wire flexible conductor, a terminal board for a battery pack and the battery pack and batteries. The circuit board and the battery pack are fastened to structure of the kite with tape or tie strips and interconnected by the flexible conductor and the terminal board. In this apparatus the battery pack is a loose part and there is no flexibility in the arrangement of the lights on the kite. Also, the use of tape and ties requires time and also considerable skill in order to make the attachments adequately secure but not cumbersome or unduly difficult to remove.
A second apparatus known to be commercially available comprises a battery pack, a terminal board for the battery pack, a length of two-wire flexible conductor, a connector between this flexible conductor and a pair of two-wire flexible conductors and two pluralities of plastic clips and light emitting diodes, one plurality being used on one of the pair of conductors and the other plurality on the other. The clips are used to fasten the LED's and the conductors to the kite structure. This apparatus allows more flexibility in the arrangement of the lights; however, the conductors are small gauge ribbon cable (to save weight), the lights and clip are not firmly interconnected, either tape or tie wrap is needed to attach the battery pack to the structure and the battery pack is a loose part.
Accordingly, the primary objective of the subject invention is to provide lighting apparatus for kites, apparatus in which there are no loose parts, there is flexibility in the arrangement of the lights, there is no requirement for taping components in place, and the lights and the parts used to attach them to kite structure are easily and securely attached to each other and to the structure.